The vote on the Issue 2 ballot initiative in Ohio is approaching, and local farmers are doing what they can to inform their neighbors about the issues surrounding the ballot initiative and urging them to support it and Ohio farmers when the vote takes place.According to the Chillicothe Gazette, a local Ohio paper, farmers are getting support in their efforts from county farm bureaus as well since the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation is in favor of Issue 2. Issue 2 would amend the Ohio Constitution to create an Ohio Livestock Care Standards Board that would be made up 13 individuals from the various interested parties and stakeholders when it comes to animal care (from farmers to consumers). The board would establish the guidelines and rules “for livestock treatment in the state of Ohio.”
Issue 2 is essentially an effort from the livestock production community to preempt a different effort by the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) to pass their own ballot initiative in 2010 that would be similar to the one they passed in California—Prop 2. The initiative the HSUS supports would require that farm animals be kept in conditions that allow them to turn around, extend their limbs, and other provisions. Farmers fear this would end current poultry production practices as well as veal-calf practices.
Thus, “Farm Bureaus from three counties and state Rep. Ray Pryor conducted public information session to help those in the agriculture industry learn more about Issue 2 [.]” As one director of two separate county farm bureaus, John Torres, states in the article, ‘“We don't want out-of-state animal rights activists telling us how to do our jobs . . . We can't afford more regulation, and that's why this proposal was welcomed with open arms by (Ohio's) general assembly.”’
If Issue 2 does pass in November, the hope is the board will be in place by 2010 and begin issuing rules and regulations. All regulations “will be subject to oversight by the Ohio legislature.”
To read the Chillicothe Gazette article click here.
Posted: 10/02/09
